Why begin music training with the piano? Here are my top ten reasons to start with a keyboard instrument:<\/p>\n
1. Ease of Playing<\/strong><\/p>\n How do you get sound from a piano? You press a piano key. It doesn\u2019t get simpler than that. Because pianos are so simple to play, children can begin their music studies earlier, as soon as their hands have the size and strength to use a keyboard.<\/p>\n 2. Learning to Read Music<\/strong><\/p>\n The piano is a great instrument to help students learn to read music. Because of the way a keyboard is laid out, it is easier to see the relationships between pitches in both melodies and chords and the way they look written out on the staff. Also, because the piano is so simple to play, a student can focus on learning to read music rather than struggling with difficult technique.<\/p>\n 3. Sense of Pitch<\/strong><\/p>\n A well-tuned piano always makes the right note when you press the key. This develops a keen sense of pitch in the young piano student. Other instruments require good breath control or exact finger placement to make the right note, which can be very challenging for a beginner who might not even have a good sense of pitch yet!<\/p>\n 4. Tuning and Maintenance<\/strong><\/p>\n Most pianos only need to be tuned once or twice a year, and electric keyboards never need to be tuned. This is different from most other instruments, some of which need to be tuned every time they\u2019re taken out of their case. Pianos are very sturdy instruments. They don\u2019t need new strings every year or two, like a violin or guitar. Most can go for decades without needing any parts repaired or replaced. They\u2019re basically worry-free.<\/p>\n 5. Sounds Good from the Start<\/strong><\/p>\n Many instruments, such as the violin or the flute, require a high level of skill to produce a good tone. It can take years before a student has the muscle control to make their instrument really sound good. With a piano, you press a key and a note comes out, and it sounds great. Right on pitch every time.<\/p>\n 6. Wide Range of Pitch<\/strong><\/p>\n The piano has a huge range of pitches, the lowest notes lower and the highest notes higher than most orchestral instruments. Because of this, music for the piano is written on two staves, both the treble and the bass clef. Learning how to read both of these clefs will allow students to go on to either a bass or treble instrument with equal ease.<\/p>\n 7. Melody and Accompaniment<\/strong><\/p>\n The piano is one of the few instruments that allows you to play both melody and accompaniment. Early beginners can start out playing simple melodies, but soon they learn to add chords and other accompaniment patterns. This helps develop a better sense of music theory than is possible with instruments that can only play one note at a time.<\/p>\n